Bullpen crumbles as strikeout-prone Twins fall 9-7 to Mariners, end winning streak
Maybe the Twins didn't deserve to win a game when they struck out a season-high 18 times and totaled one hit after the third inning, but that doesn't take away the sting of a bullpen collapse.
The Twins had a four-run lead when Pablo López exited after the seventh inning. The lead lasted one out.
Jovani Moran failed to retire any of the three batters he faced, Emilio Pagán surrendered a game-tying homer, and Oliver Ortega offered up three runs in a 9-7 loss to the Mariners at Target Field. The loss snapped the Twins' four-game winning streak.
Moran, the first man out of the bullpen, threw only five of his 14 pitches for strikes. He gave up two walks and a double. Pagán, who had allowed four hits and one run across nine innings this month, watched a run score on a groundout before Julio Rodríguez launched a game-tying homer to right field.
With the score tied in the ninth inning, the Mariners had their first four batters reach base against Ortega, including a two-run double from Eugenio Suárez that shot past diving third baseman Willi Casstro. It was the first time the Twins trailed.
Facing Mariners righthander George Kirby, a pitcher who shut them out for seven innings last Thursday, the Twins needed only five batters to hit for a team cycle and produce a four-run lead.
Carlos Correa rocketed an opposite-field double on Kirby's second pitch. He's reached base safely in 18 of the 20 games since he shuffled into the leadoff spot. Edouard Julien followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a triple off the left field wall, the first triple of Julien's major league career.
Following a three-pitch strikeout — Kirby struck out nine in four innings — Max Kepler pulled an RBI single through the right side of the infield. On Kirby's next pitch, Matt Wallner lifted a two-run, 410-foot homer to the right field seats to complete the team cycle.
The Twins had no answers for Kirby five days ago and made him look virtually unhittable. Their average exit velocity on the four balls they put in play in the first inning was 105.5 miles per hour.
The key against Kirby on Tuesday, really, was just putting the ball in play. The Twins had a hit on the first seven balls that were struck into fair territory. After Kepler led off the third inning with a ground ball single, Castro lined an RBI triple into the right field corner.
Kirby recorded his first eight outs via strikeout, but he lasted only four innings on a 90-degree evening after his pitch count averaging more than 22 pitches per inning. It was his second-shortest start of the season.
The Twins didn't record a hit after Castro's triple until Michael A. Taylor opened the ninth inning with a solo homer, striking out three times in the first, second, fifth and eighth innings.
Castro did manufacture a run without a hit in the sixth inning after he drew a leadoff walk. He stole second base and swiped third during Trevor Larnach's six-pitch strikeout. Pinch-hitter Donovan Solano drove in Castro with a sacrifice fly.
Gifted an early four-run lead, López was content with inducing swings early in counts. He allowed solo homers to Rodríguez and Cade Marlowe, but he completed a seven-inning start for the sixth time this season.
Still, it wasn't enough. The Twins, who are looking for bullpen depth at the trade deadline, saw seven runs score in the final two innings.
